Trinamool cries foul over tea garden workers struck off electoral rolls or kept in adjudication list

The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, alleged that the names of thousands of adivasi tea garden workers and a significant section of Rajbanshi people in North Bengal were either deleted or unfairly ‘decided’ in the latest electoral rolls.

Describing the development as a political conspiracy by the BJP, the Trinamool Congress said that the influence of the BJP has begun to erode in the generations in the tea gardens.

“Facing an impending defeat, they now seem determined to suppress the votes of tea workers and tribal communities. We stand with every Adivasi family and every legitimate voter. We will challenge this injustice through every democratic channel possible, because democracy belongs to the people and not to any partisan agenda,” the Trinamool Congress said on social media.

Trinamool’s claim comes after the release of draft electoral rolls of around 7.04 crore voters in the State following the completion of the four-month SIR. The electoral roll includes around 60 lakh voters under trial.

In January, ECI allowed the records of Tea Gardens and Cinchona plantations to be used as documents for SIR 2026. The BJP leadership had expressed the demand to include the records of Tea gardens and Cinchona plantations in the SIR documents. The BJP has a relatively stronger influence in North Bengal than in South Bengal and is expected to perform better in the upcoming assembly polls. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will sit on a dharna against the ECI in Kolkata on March 6.

Former West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, in his letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, stated that the election dates should be announced after the decision of 60 lakh voters is finalised. Expressing deep concern over the exclusion of a large number of names from the draft voters’ list, the Congress leader said it was the Constitutional duty of the Election Commission to ensure that no genuine Indian citizen is deprived of the right to vote.